One thing that I will give society is that it really good at surprising me, no matter how lowly I think of it there is always a douchebag out there who can lower my expectations.

Now in general it’s things like MH17 and Gaza that really upset me but once again even our own little industry has once again plumbed new depths when it comes to destroying moral fibre. Gameloft recently held a competition where the winners were given early access to an upcoming game entitled Modern Combat 5.

The Modern Combat games are developed mainly for mobiles, iOS, Android and Windows Mobile, but they are also available on Windows 8.1. So a bunch of lucky gamers got some early access to a game they are obviously interested in but instead of just enjoying that access at least one of them decided to take it a bit further.

So Gameloft did a contest to win an early copy of MC5, and one of the winners cracked and uploaded it. Now there’s 1000’s of players online.

I would love to know what the person was thinking while they were working away at cracking the game they were given earlier than anyone else? What sort of mentality do these people have where they feel they need to sabotage someone’s hard work simply for kicks?

So if you are a fan of the Modern Combat games then please don’t be a douche and rather pay for the game so that the team can keep making games like it.

In this article

I'm cranky, arrogant and ever so amazingly annoying but when you get to know me you will also realise I'm honest and incredibly good at describing myself... now pass me that beer

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Ryanza

What’s that saying, pay it forward. lol

Alien Emperor Trevor

What a maroon.

Sith JJ

Like Maroon 5?
Agreed. 😉

Morne Nell

And then people wonder about why the need for always online.

marvel

“Now there’s 1000?s of players online.” No, you don’t get to make this an argument for DRM

Anon A Mouse

…

Matewis Jubilai

That or going to the home affairs or driver’s license offices (shudder)

Kensei Seraph

Save yourself the petrol and just open up their websites.
*Has horrific flashback*

Viking Of Science

I’m just shocked that you can play online on a cracked copy of the game…. That’s usually the one thing pirates can’t circumvent….

Sith JJ

Ah, but since the first Left for Dead they’ve figured out ways around that.

Ragnar Lothbrok

And this, my dear friends, is the reason why devs are going the free to play and console (with DRM) route.

Hammersteyn

They were probably gonna crack it anyways. It’s because of this that the master race has to have a game client for every big publisher out there. Erorr 37 with Diablo 3, Uplay for Watchdogs, Origins for Simcity, Rockstar social club for GTA 5. Console players just don’t have to deal with this kak. How long before they crack Destiny on PC if it were to launch on PC?

Alien Emperor Trevor

A week before release probably. If I remember correctly the bulk of pirated games come from the disk based versions, not ones bought digitally.

Hammersteyn

Sad,sad state of affairs. Big ups to the people how don’t support pirated games though.

Sir Rants A Lot Llew

Piracy is as rife on console as it is on PC unfortunately. It’s just easier to distribute on PC due to the internet.

Therefore it seems more than console.

Hammersteyn

Well yeah there is piracy on console but I bet it’s probably ten times as bad on PC. Now I’m not defending consoles in saying this, but it seems that consoles are just a bit more effective in curbing piracy.

Sir Rants A Lot Llew

nah. There was a bit of research done on this actually.

Console and PC piracy is pretty much even.

PC piracy just seems far worse because of the ease of access to the internet.

Hammersteyn

Would love the read that research

HvR – Still dislikes Random.or

Just think a moment about it, to typically crack a console some custom hardware (either mod or extra box) is needed.

There a number of companies (I know of three different ones) that develop this hardware and manufacture it. To break even on such a venture you will need to sell tens of thousands.

Sir Rants A Lot Llew

It was like a year ago that I read it. Will try to find it. Was rather interesting stats. Even went as far as to split downloads on PC according to what the platform of the game being downloaded was for.

Ryanza

It’s because it’s never talked about but console games get pirated a lot.

I know a lot of people with flashed Xbox 360’s. Just go to gumtree and see all the flashed consoles. I remember the time when lots of people just disappeared off Xbox Live because their console got banned.

But piracy numbers are not as big as you would think. If PC and console numbers are nearly the same, then you can think it’s just a small network of people who pirate.

As rants said, there has been research done.

Morne Nell

What people don’t understand is there is no difference between what this guy did and stealing from someone. The master race things cracking is fun, or downloading a torrent for something that someone else crack. You are in fact assisting in the crime.
If that development house close down next time and you have your “free” game you should consider that you are partly to blame

HvR – Still dislikes Random.or

Cracking/pirating games on console have been going and is still going on since the PS1. It just isn’t as easy to “see” as on PC.

I will bet that it is just as big if not bigger than PC.

Morne Nell

Although happening on consoles you need to chip your console, once you do that warranties expire and if something does go wrong no one can repair it.

HvR – Still dislikes Random.or

You get chips with the guys installing them also having warranty seals, software flashes, external boxes. None of these will void the warranty.

From my post higher up:
Just think a moment about it, to typically crack a console some custom hardware (either mod or extra box) is needed.

There a number of companies (I know of three different ones) that develop this hardware and manufacture it. To break even on such a venture you will need to sell tens of thousands.

Some would have you believe that downloading is stealing the intellectual property. But you not breaking into the developer’s house and physically being there stealing the code with your usb and gun.

The pirate scene is not stealing, it’s sharing. When something gets uploaded to the pirate scene, like a video game, that video game, CD, DVD, Blu ray, will most likely have been bought not stolen.

When you lend some1 a book to read, a CD to listen to, DVD to watch, a video game to play, you are sharing with that person. And when you have borrowed from some1, you have not stolen from him.

The pirate scene takes that sharing concept and broadens it.
In this country we allowed to download but we can not upload. Uploading is viewed as sharing, not stealing. We not allowed to share with others, but we can borrow.

When you download something or borrow it from a friend, you don’t feel like you own it. If you are the type of person who likes to own stuff you like, then you will most likely go out and buy the stuff that you liked from downloading and borrowing.

So stealing a chocolate from Pick and Pay is not the same thing as downloading Charlie and the Chocolate factory

Morne Nell

Tell yourself that, your buddy steals the chocolate for you to eat. You are then just as guilty.
Sorry but having worked in the industry I can tell you it is that attitude that is the problem.
Pirating is stealing and you are saying steal for me so that you can borrow, do you actually believe what you typed?
Someone bought the game, crack it but shares it with millions that is stealing. They are only allowed to share the original not a cracked version

Ryanza

Steals the chocolate for me to eat? Steal for me to borrow? Ya. not what I said.

Your perception of stealing seems way off. When you buy something, you not stealing it. When you crack something, you not stealing it. When you uploading it, you not stealing it.

I guess there’s only one view point with some1 like you. The best thing about being human is having different points of view. Oh no, I stole my point of view.

Don’t read my comment, cause you stealing my comment.

Morne Nell

I can see form your comments that you run / install pirated software alot, probably running a pirated version of windows as well, dude it is wrong get it in your head it is wrong.

Ryanza

You really think that because I bring a different point of view on topics. I like this topic, there’s the way it is and the perceived way it is.

Why stop at software. Why not say I steal everything. Tell me how I can not wait to steal The Witcher 3 by paying for it and then borrowing it to everyone I know. lol.

Morne Nell

It is not a different point of view, It is plain and simple that you don’t understand the law in this regard.

Some people don’t believe that software piracy is truly stealing because there is no loss of a tangible product involved in the act of piracy.

Using pirated software is a moral and ethical issue.

Stealing software is stealing software, whether you make a millon Rand, dollars (or euros) or zero.
I would suggest you read up on the topic, also read up on what the view point of the BSA view point on this is. And the countless lawsuits in this regard especially in America.

Ryanza

I already pointed out, that those who upload stuff tot he pirate scene most likely paid for the products. So there was not stealing involved.
In this country you can download stuff but you can’t upload stuff. There’s your law.

One case in South Africa where some1 stole a copy of a South African movie and uploaded it to the pirate scene. He was not charged with theft for uploading the movie. In that case you can use your morals and ethics because he didn’t pay for the movie before uploading it.

I’m in South Africa and I should have an American point of view. Fuck that.

When it comes to the pirate scene stealing is not stealing and I mentioned that before. Not going to repeat that long ass post. Downloading is not stealing from the person who paid for the product before uploading it.

Go into BTgames with a gun and stick up the place and steal all the games from the store. Did you rob a BTgames store or did you rob the developers. Because ain’t the developers paid already.

Morne Nell

Go and speak to a lawyer my friend you know nothing about the law in this country.

Ryanza

of so 1st i steal and now I don’t know the law. Did I steal the law.

Morne Nell

You sound like Oscar Pistorius, wanting to justify an action based on a view point rather than the letter of the law.
Did you notice no one on this site approve or agree with your view point / perception.
You are vey childish rather bring viewpoints based on facts to the table and I am willing to listen.

Ryanza

lol. So I’m a thief, I don’t know the law, I’m very childish, viewpoints are only based on facts and I didn’t bring any facts, the site dissaproves of me because I don’t get likes. I guess all of that says nothing about you. Oh look you got likes. The site likes people blindly against pirates. The site likes people getting judged.

So did Oscar shoot Reeva because he didn’t want that guy to steal his 4 corners dvd.

And I don’t comment on this site for likes and dislikes. Never have and never will. I say what I want to say and I never take shit seriously.

Rince&pop

Hate to say it mate, but as far as the law, in South Africa, you are wrong. Your ISP is allowed to cancel your contract if contacted by the owners of your STOLEN movie. Has happened to a few friends and is the reason why programmes like Peerguardian exist. Because it is illegal.

Double-O-Six and a half

So if you’re so convinced your view is right how about I set you a challenge… Lets’ get an independent body like the Business Software Alliance of South Africa or even SAFACT (South African Federation Against Copyright Theft) to do an independent audit of all your software, music, movies, downloads, etc. If they find no wrongdoing on your part, and that your view is correct, you get bragging rights and kudos on this forum… If however you’re wrong you get to face the full might of the breach of copyrights laws which could involve jail terms, fines, restitution agreements and so on…

You brave enough to put your “views” where your mouth is and man up?

Ryanza

The 4 corners guy was the 1st case concerning piracy in South Africa and he pleased guilty. Would have liked to see him take his case to the higher courts.

Double-O-Six and a half

Yep, he pleaded got guilty and got a 3 year suspended jail sentence…

But we’re not talking about somebody from the Cape Flats who plead guilty to a crime… we’re talking about YOU and your belief that piracy isn’t a crime (despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary supported by heavy criminal penalties)… so how about it, you man enough to accept the challenge? You seem so keen to take this case to the higher courts how about you leap at this opportunity to represent your views…

C’mon, this could be your 15 seconds of fame before you get to spend some reflective time on how your “viewpoint” got you into a nice 4×4 room which you share with 39 other dudes who are also “innocent”…

Ryanza

I am speaking a point of view not my beliefs.

My beliefs would be boring and would have already been said by everyone on the net.

marvel

thats just…well dumb. very macho etc. but how about if theres nothing on his PC you go to jail? that seems more fair?

not saying i support his view but you are quite the keyboard warrior. have you ever driven over the speed limit or been in the car and not reported it? Well guess what, you committed a crime and unlike a software copy you have endangered someone’s life

Double-O-Six and a half

Because quite frankly I’m not the dumb schmuck sprouting my mouth off about supporting and condoning illegal activities. Ignorance of the law is no defence. Despite you terming me a keyboard warrior, I quite frankly would and have put my money where my mouth is. If I committed a crime, I would expect the full might of the law to take it’s course. I wouldn’t sit there and whine about how I believe that I am right and everybody else including the law is wrong.

It’s called integrity – the ability to stand by your choice of action and have the integrity to accept the consequences of your actions…

There are also varying degrees to criminality and to claim that because I may or may (you have no clue as to who I may or may not be) not have committed a crime or been witness to a crime that I am somehow in the same league as somebody who publicly espouses and condones criminal activity – yes piracy IS A CRIME, your opinion of me is as deluded as he is…

You don’t happen to work for government do you??

P.S. machismo isn’t quite the view I was going for – honesty, integrity and conviction was… if you don’t see that, that’s your problem not mine!!!

Sith JJ

*lending

Morne Nell

Go and read this Article, it explains that as a user you are considered a pirate when you use the software and that as a pirate you re guilty of stealing

Sorry bud but that dont fly. Stealing is stealing. If you took a chocolate from a shop without paying and without the owners consent/knowing. Thats stealing. If you steal a chocolate and share it with your friend…. Thats sharing. Its simple. So if you download a game that you haven’t paid for and without the owners consent/knowing thats stealing as well. You looking past that bit and looking at the simple fact that people SHARE a stolen product. There is no complex way of how it works.

Ryanza

You not downloading from the owners. You downloading from some1 who paid for the product.

Morne Nell

The person paid for a license not the product, the license determines how he can / Can’t distribute the software. Go and read the license agreements it usually states it can only be in stalled on one machine

Ryanza

Hence why DRM is bad.

Don’t support DRM

DeveloperAndStudentOfEthics

Ryanza…Your understanding of ‘theft’ and ‘stealing’ is limited to physical entities. Try and expand your mind a little. The movie/game that someone has bought a physical copy of and then digitised it to distribute infringes on the intellectual property of someone (ie, digital rights).
The authors, developers, actors, studios etc. get money and a salary from the copies of the items they sell – you are denying them that income.

eg. you BUY a book, the cash filters up through the retailer to the distributer to the publisher to the author. The author is happy and will write another book. Now, you LEND it to someone – while they have it, you can no longer enjoy it. If the book is good, your other friends don’t want to wait for the slow reader to finish and go out and buy it for themselves. The author gets more money. He definately wants to write another book now. If you photocopy the entire book (which, incidentally, is also illegal) and then give it to all your friends, the author gets nothing. Heard of ‘copyright’?

Try googling ‘moral development’ – you have a lot of growing up to do.

Ryanza

Don’t base everything on one side of the coin. For everything I said there is also a lot I haven’t said. Don’t base my comments on my personal views, I rarely do that on here.

Just a point of view or a anti point of view concerning users and piracy. I know how people like to go after this kind of view concerning piracy.

Spathi

Wtf…

Sith JJ

Having worked with a lot of licensing in my time it perfectly falls into this. You put Mickey Mouse on a shirt, without the consent of Disney, you’re not stealing Mickey Mouse, but you’re using a product for personal gain without paying for it. It’s not stealing in the perfect sense of the word (hence why people try to justify it), but it’s still the use of something that does not belong to you. Which is illegal.

Spathi

Yeah but I didn’t steal it I’m only borrowing the design someone else created and making money from it! So it can’t be wrong! I mean, the more Mickey the merrier?

Sith JJ

LOL.
That’s exactly what I said when the police pulled me over in that rich dude’s Ferrari. I’m only borrowing it, I’ll take it back.

Ryanza

I don’t think the common piracy user makes money from uploading and downloading.

If you running a business where you make money off copied products or you hawking on the street corners selling copied goods. Yes, that’s wrong but I don’t think that’s the main users of the pirate scene.

Sith JJ

I never mentioned money, if you might look. I said gain. For personal gain. You cannot use the property of someone else (a design, a product, an idea) without the consent of the creator or having bought it.

Ryanza

Most pirate uploaders do buy the products and upload with nothing to gain. most pirates download with nothing to gain except gaining info on what to buy next. If they are consumers of goods.

Sith JJ

I’m not going to pretend that everyone is innocent, we know that’s not true. But this still isn’t right.

The company to whom the product or idea belongs own the rights to it. It’s in their terms and conditions (that thing no one reads). So even if it wasn’t illegal by law, if it’s against their approved terms and conditions it’s wrong.

Double-O-Six and a half

Actually you couldn’t be more wrong if you tried. There are specific laws which govern digital content not only in South Africa (ECT Act, Copyright Act 1978, Counterfeit Goods Act, etc. etc. et al) and worldwide, but there are also specific conditions in the licence agreements which make this particular behaviour either contractually delinquent or in some cases illegal. If illegal you deserve the full might of the law to be brought to bear on you. This is the 21st century: theft does not have to be with the pointy end of a knife blade, but can be with the 1’s and 0’s of a pirates keyboard… Put it another way, if I digitally get into your bank account and digitally remove money from your bank account, in your mind no theft has taken place because I simply “electronically borrowed” it from your account for my own gain… and did not physically remove anything from you…

In my opinion digital pirates are the modern day equivalent of the cowardly hold up artist who also tried to use any excuse to justify their anti-social behaviour!!!

Ryanza

I don’t think the pirate scene breaks into developers computers and take the code and makes it available to the world.

let’s say, you borrowed money from me and then you get robbed, be it from your bank account. Did that person rob you or did he rob me.

Double-O-Six and a half

Let me guess – you’re probably one of those ID10t’s that believes that identity theft is impossible because a victim still has their ID book after having their identity stolen… By your logic, how can it be stolen if the person still has it?

Sad, so very sad, I’m wondering if you’re a troll or you really are as deluded as you make yourself out to be…

Ryanza

You still arguing personal theft when I’ve been beyond the personal theft argument from get go.

The piracy scene is not the same as personal theft.

Sir Rants A Lot Llew

Wow. The depths of stupidity. How hard is it going to be to figure out who it was considering there were a limited amount of people who got access?

Wow. The level of stupid…. *facepalm*

Hammersteyn

Imagine you created this game and you get a call that there are thousands of people playing despite the fact that you released the game to only ten people.

Sir Rants A Lot Llew

I know right. Wow. I…. I am not sure how to feel about all this.

1) the person was super stupid
2) The person was super douche.

I am beyond words

Jim Lenoir (Banana Jim)

Ah, those lovable rogues…. (shakes head)

Kensei Seraph

I can understand the challenge that comes from cracking the game, but releasing that crack…

Sith JJ

Well, that’s probably their way of showing off.
Which really just speaks volumes in itself about the kind of people we’re talking about.

Matewis Jubilai

I might get burned for this:

Cracking it I can respect, uploading and/or advertising how to do it I cannot. Hell even proclaiming that you did it could be harmful to the developers. I think if you have the necessary skills the challenge can be reason enough to do it, like someone hacking a highly secure site and leaving a parting message that they hacked it without messing up the site. It’s still douchbaggery to cause people financial harm simply to satisfy your thrill, which I suppose ultimately derives from the hacker’s ego. Or am I wrong?

Kensei Seraph

Agreed.
If it was me I’d contact the devs and tell them how I cracked it so that they can close up that loophole.

Hammersteyn

Same here.

ToshZA

Funny thing, the people that do that, usually end up with high paying jobs, instead of living in their parent’s basements.

Admiral Chief Saxon

Blerrie tool

Zubair

What an imbecile.

These pirates seem to have this Robin Hood mentality of being a rebel with a good cause, but it seems as if this shady shebeen )otherwise known as “peer-sharing”) is as much a symptom of general society as it is the bane of legitimate business. If you’re too poor to buy a game, does that mean you HAVE to miss out on it? People will always find that hard to accept.

Some drive Ferrarris while others prefer to steal them.
I know a guy in a poor Cape area who pirates and then sells games to support his family.
On the other hand you get short-sighted runts like this competition winner. Pirates are like any other form of criminal… The stupid ones get caught quicker. I’m not condoning piracy, just underscoring its inevitability.

I guess what I’m trying to say isn’t much at all really, mainly that anything of value and in demand will inevitably be exploited … The world just really needs to change.

K rant over.

PS: You’re never too old, so if this post made you feel a bit worn down here’s a nice video.

I knew a guy who ran a business from his house chipping consoles & selling pirated games, the best part was he lived next to a police station. Also used to work with a guy who imported gospel music dvds, pirated them, then sold them to his congregation members.

Sir Rants A Lot Llew

yoh 0_0

Morne Nell

And he probably think it is all Ok to do it, he does nothing wrong pirating he wasnot stealing according to him.

Some people makes me so angry, he probably sold most of the stuff to the police station anyway.

Zubair

Cops here don’t seem to enforce these piracy laws very often, if at all. Unless I’m mistaken?
These are (at first glance at least) decent people just trying to earn a living whereby they don’t harm others, so where’s the proverbial line?
Make your bed and lay in it is what I say. To each his own and all that..

Morne Nell

Only when it is big companies, there has been raids done on cooperates I also know of a raid done on a guy that used to sell pirated CD’s in Hatfield the guy just became way to greedy. If this guy you mention s that good why not go and work for a software company?
This guy is stealing, he is harming others, he is harming / stealing from everyone that worked hard to put that CD / DVD Game out there.
The problem is it is easy money for him, why work when you can hack, basically work part time

Zubair

Good to know they’re at least semi-active in catching the big fish.

This guy as you call him, looked for work for years.
Yes, he had a criminal record for carrying a joint (“Net ‘n f***** nippie!” as he used to say),but that’s something I’ve seen kids get a slap on the wrist for, not a criminal record and jail and all that.
People do wrong, but sometimes our society is a bit backward and no-one can argue that. I’m not saying it’s an acceptable lifestyle, but for some it’s a necessary one.

Morne Nell

That is sad, hope I did not offend someone close to you if so I apologise. Seems that he is clever, all be it still illegal.
People do get caught but unfortunately there always need to be a formal complaint, this guy in Hattfield work there for about 10 years, bought a house etc all through his “business”, then one day one person laid a complained and his days was over.
In the cooperate environment, We have been audited once, disgruntled employee laid a formal complained and whola, business was closed for 2 full weeks while every PC was audited, no fun. Directors was given option of heavy fine or prison sentence.

Zubair

No offense and no apology necessary but thank you for that.
Most of these pirates are couch-potatoes (with dad’s credit card at hand no less) and there is where I agree with you. These leeching lowlifes can’t grasp the effects of piracy in the real world, whether it’s due to ignorance or naivety doesn’t really matter, the problem is attitude and not being taught intrinsic value.

Let’s all just try to do the right thing as often as humanly possible.

CypherGate

The previous games you had to buy the game and it still included in-app purchases if i remember correctly and people hated the fact that it had it so with Modern Combat 5 they got rid of in-app purchases and made it one solid price. Seems loads of people just want to plainly steal other peoples hard work instead of contributing to them making good games. There is a no real excuse for pirates.